schoonmaker



S. F. SCHOONMAKE-R.

Transponing and Storing Grain.

Patented May 12 1868.

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s. FRANKLINSGTHOON'MAKER, OFJNVEW YORK, N. Y-.

Letters Patent No, 77,768, dated May 12, 1868; antedated April 25, 1868.

IMPROVEMENT IN TRANSPORTING AND STORING GRAIN AND OTHER PRODUCTS. 7

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TO ALL WHOM, IT MAY CONCERN; I

Be it known thatI, S. FRANKLIN Scnoommmsn, of the city of New York, county and State of New York,

have invented a new anduseful Method in the Transportationjand Storage of Grain and other Vegetable Mat ter; and in order that others skilled in such matters may proceed to apply and, use my method, I do hereby declare that the hereinafter description 'is a true and exact explanation of the same, and how it may be carried into cfi'ect, reference being made to the accompanying drawings.

This invention relates more particularly to a method inthe transportation and storage of grain', whioh is liable to becomeheated and damaged while being conveyed in bulk in vessels on the great lakes, or in canalboats on their way to tide-water, but is also applicable to the-storage and preservation of other vegetable matters, such as fruits, hops, &c. I i

It is known that immense quantities of grain every year become badly heated and dumagedby being stored in bulk, while in a moist condition, in the holds of vessels during transportation, but the apparent cause of this heating has hitherto escaped investigation. It need only be stated, to be admitted, that in the case contcmplated the heating is due to chemical action. This chemical action can only ensue'in the relation of the elements present, and in communication with each other. In-the casein view, these elements are the grain, aslan organic body, its participating moisture, and the constituent elements of the air, oxygen and nitrogen. It is wcllknown that oxygen plays a chief and highly important'part in the changes which take place in all organic bodies. A simpleexperiment is made by saturating cotton-waste with oil, whichthereupon unites with the oxygen of the .air so rapidly as often to generate sufiicient heat to cause it to burst into flame. Disastrous conflagrations have frequently been traced to the operation of the same cause, in a variety of ways and with a variety of substances. Moistureis a powerful agent in instituting the process of oxidization. While vegetable substances, perfectly or'chie fly deprived of their moisture, are little affected by the oxygen of the air, they rapidly undergo. someone of the chemical changes tending to their destruction, when containing an undue quantity of moisture, and left'exposed to thefree contact of oxygen. I

I have explained, in a previous applicationfor a patent on a method for preserving hops, a plan for lining with metal plates a room or compartment, so as to produce an air-tight enclosure, and at the same time provide for the expansion and contraction of. the metal plates, without causing, through some one of the manyjoints, .a-lcakage of the gases. Where the temperature is frequently varying, as would be the case through the difi'er ent seasons of the year, in the lining, for instance, of the hold of a canal-boat, this provision is absolutely necessary. i

7 By the aid of the accompanying drawings this plan t er the lining of the interior of canal-boats and other water-transports, us well as cars, and rooms or compartments in buildings, is more particularly explained.

The metal plates a a a (I are-laid upon the sides, floor, and ceiling of the chamber, so that their edges may be separated, from a quarter to a half inch. Over this separation is then placed a metal strap, about an inch wide, under-which islaid a strip of rubber cloth. A screw, which has a-flat surface underits head, is then fitted with a rubber-ring, and being inserted through the metal strap, passes between the edges of" the plates into the 1 wood, against which they are secured. By this method, the plates themselves need notbe pierced with asin'gle orifice to fasten them, and the metal straps, pressing the'rubber against the edges of the plates, will formper fectly an air-tightenclosure. The plates are thus left free to e'xp'andand contract with the varying temperature.

Having. lined the. interior'of a vessel or room, substantially as herein specified, it is then filled with the grain or other matter to be transported or stored. .A. suitable cover, lined with metal, as herein provided, is

'secured'ovcr the hatchway, by means of rubber stripsfundcr the points in contact. Arubber hose is thenatt'aehed to the cook or opening c, Figure 1, .andlplaced in connection vwith a suitable apparatus for containing caustic barytes, which is heated to low redness without contact with the exterior air. With this apparatus is joined another tube, which, passing through water one cooling-mixture, leads back .into the grain-enclosure,

through the cook or opening'y, fig. 1., The air confined in the chamber being made topass over the heatedbarytes, soon becomes an utmosphere'ef nitrogen, by the lossof its oxygen, which unites with the barytes, to form a peroxide, and nocarboriie or other deleterious gas is formed inthe process.

A cook or opening,z, fig. 1, is formed in connection withthe grain-chamhen by which the pressure of the air outside and within the chamber is kept inequilibrium during the process. When the process is completed,

the coeksoommunicating with the chamber are closed, and the hose 61 pipes are-then detached.

, The atmosphere in contact with the grain being new nitrogen, an inert element, the heatingof the grain cannot ensue' during its transportatiom-and. until, the vessel having'arrived at its destination, the enclosure is opened and its contents discharged. i v

I am aware, as has been explained in a previous application, that processes contemplating the absence of oxygen have been proposed, for meats, vegetables, &c., in eansfbut I donot know that nitrogen gas has ever been produced as herein contemplated, for the purpose described I therefore cla-im 1. A closed chamber or compartment, rendered impervious to air and gases by a metdl lining, so applied as to permit the free expensionand contraction of the metal, substantially a-s and for the purpose specified;

2; In connection with a suitably-enclosed chamber orcompartment, nitrogemgaaoyhen produced from the confined air, by the agency of a chemical compound and heat, withou't the production'of carbonic-acid gas, sub

stantially as and for the purpose described. a

, 3. Providing an opening or inlet, in connection with an enclosed chamber, for the passage of exterior air, to maintain, in' the process, an equilibrinm of, pressure within and without, for thepurposes substantially as described.

S. FRANKLIN SOHOONMAKER. s. Witnesses:

CHARBES B4KER, RICHARD E. SMITH. 

